Continental Europe (green area); the boundaries of the continent are somewhat disputed.

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent (particularly by Britons, Azores and Madeira Portuguese, Balearic and Canary Spaniards, Icelanders and other European island nations, and peninsular Scandinavians), is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding the islands of Europe.[1]

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In the United Kingdom, the Continent is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe. In addition, the word Europe itself is also regularly used to mean Europe excluding the islands of Great Britain, Iceland, and Ireland (although the term is often used to refer to the European Union[2]).

Occasionally the term mainland Europe is used. An apocryphalBritish newspaper headline supposedly once read, "Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off".[3] It has also been claimed that this was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s.[4]

Derivatively, the adjective continental refers to the social practices or fashion of continental Europe as opposed to those of Britain. Examples include breakfast, topless sunbathing and, historically, long-range driving (before Britain had motorways) often known as Grand Touring.[citation needed] Continental Europe, when compared to Britain, has numerous defined differences both cultural and tangible. The use of Civil rather than Common Law, different electrical plugs, different time zones for the most part, a different currency, driving on the right, and using the metric system exclusively are a small selection.

The United Kingdom is physically connected to Continental Europe through the undersea Channel Tunnel (the longest undersea tunnel in the world), which accommodates both the Eurotunnel (passenger and vehicle use - vehicle required) and Eurostar (passenger use only) services. These services were established to transport passengers and vehicles through the tunnel on a 24/7 basis from the United Kingdom to Continental Europe and vice versa, while still maintaining the appropriate passport and immigration control measures on both sides of the tunnel.

Map of the Scandiae islands by Nicolaus Germanus for a 1467 publication of Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini.

Especially in Germanic studies, continental refers to the European continent excluding the Scandinavian peninsula, Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. The reason for this is that although the Scandinavian peninsula is attached to continental Europe by Karelia and the like, it is usually reached by sea, not by land (which would require travelling north as far as Tornio at the 66th parallel north). Kontinenten (the Continent) is a vernacular Swedish expression that refers to the area excluding Sweden, Norway, and Finland but including Denmark (even the Danish archipelago) and the rest of continental Europe. In Norway, similarly, one speaks about Kontinentet as a separate entity, usually referring to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries, and such.